Monday, September 23, 2013

I have a post today at Natural Parents Network about "Ethics, A Budget, and Your Taste Buds: Pick Your Pleasure."
True story: While chatting in a group setting a few weeks ago, a friend brought up the subject of frying her food and which oils are best for frying. She was talking about chicken, and I am Southern. She was bemoaning the price of olive oil and then someone brought up canola oil. Because I Know Everything, I jumped right in: "When deep frying anything, you should just use straight vegetable oil because it has a high smoke point and a neutral flavor and it's not too expensive. The flavor will be best the second or third time you use it, but don't use it many more times than that because the smoke point lowers pretty quickly. But don't use canola because it's a GMO, and unless you're buying pretty close to the source for your olive oil, it's hard to be sure it's 100% olive…." And then someone — in a nice way — told me to put a sock in it and further explained that vegetable oil also contains GMOs and can contain many different oils, some of which are from areas that are being exploited. I haven't researched her claims because, frankly, I just can't. I have reached Ethical Eating Fatigue, people. And I bet you have, too. There is a list as long as my arm concerning the health and ethical grey areas surrounding the food on our plates, and it's enough to overwhelm a person.
Off the top of my head: Pesticide usage poisons the farmers, the laborers, the ground water, the wild animals, and is causing colony collapse, and who knows what else. Growth hormone and antibiotic use in livestock is causing early puberty in children. Groundwater runoff is causing e. coli outbreaks. Monocultures are going to lead to another dust bowl. Palm oil (which is in everything) is causing the destruction of the rainforest and gorilla populations. GMOs are going to kill us all. Honey isn't actually honey. Olive oil isn't actually made from olives. Chocolate is being harvested by child slaves. Cows are having unholy things done to their bodies in order to be able to live on diets they are not designed to consume…including candy. Chickens are being bred for their breasts, which means their legs can't support their weight. Eating food out of season and from halfway around the world contributes to our dependence on oil and potentially takes food from famine-ravaged countries. Etc, etc, etc.
Overwhelmed? Take a breath.
Continue reading at Natural Parents Network ››